Everybody feels inadequate sometimes, right? Yesterday was one of the worst days I can remember. I just couldn’t shake this feeling of not being good enough. This morning, I woke up still in that rut. I wasn’t reading my Bible or doing anything spiritual…I was brushing my teeth when a thought came to mind.
I suddenly thought of a story from John 21. It’s one of my favorites. I’ve blogged about this story before, about how sometimes the best miracle God does in our lives is simply that He holds us together. But this time, a different thought came to mind.
“Later, Jesus appeared again to the disciples beside the Sea of Galilee. This is how it happened. Several of the disciples were there – Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples. Simon Peter said, ‘I’m going fishing.'”
Nothing out of the ordinary…Peter was a professional fisherman. The funny thing is, it seems like every time we see Peter fishing in the Bible, he’s not catching fish. Talk about feeling inadequate.
“‘We’ll come too,’ they all said. So they went out in the boat, but they caught nothing all night. At dawn, Jesus was standing on the beach, but the disciples couldn’t see who he was. He called out, ‘Fellows, have you caught any fish?’ ‘No,’ they replied.’
Let’s be honest…they were annoyed by this question. If you’re obviously struggling with or failing at something and somebody asks how it’s going, you want to throat punch them. At least I hope I’m not the only one.
So the short version of the story goes like this: Jesus tells them to cast their nets out the other side of the boat. They don’t understand it, but they do it anyway. They catch so many fish that they can’t even get the net into the boat. 153 fish to be exact. Now, watch this:
“Now come and have some breakfast!’ Jesus said. None of the disciples dared to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ They knew it was the Lord. Then Jesus served them the bread and the fish.”
The whole time the disciples are out in the boat trying to catch fish without any success, where is Jesus? On the beach. Cooking. Fish.
I wonder how often I’m struggling to do something, to get better, to be good enough, when all along Jesus is saying, “Hey, I’ve got what you’re looking for right here. Just come closer to me. I’ll give it to you.”
I’m not one of the people who thinks God talks to them all the time. I know people who say God speaks to them, but I’ve never heard His voice like that. But I think God spoke this to me this morning while I was brushing my teeth. I think He was reassuring me that it’s ok to not be good enough, if realizing that means I’ll rely less on me and more on Him.
Perry Noble often says, “It’s ok to not be ok. It’s not ok to stay that way.” There’s nothing wrong with not being good enough as long as you realize that you’re not good enough and admit that you need Jesus’ help. Being good enough isn’t a qualification or requirement of, precursor to, or prerequisite for the grace of Jesus. It’s a result of. (Tweet this) As we take steps toward Him, He gives us what we need.